Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified Thursday from the Georgia election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump over an affair with her top lieutenant.
In the latest big legal victory for Trump, a Georgia appeals court said in a 2-1 ruling that “disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings.”
The case against Trump and more than a dozen co-defendants had already been stalled for months while the Georgia Court of Appeals considered Willis’ fate.
It also faces big and still-unresolved issues stemming from Trump’s reelection victory.
The 2-1 ruling by appeals court panel means a Georgia prosecutors group will pick another prosecutor to take over the case and decide whether to continue to pursue it against Trump or his co-defendants. Willis could still appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court.
Trump and 18 others were indicted by an Atlanta grand jury in August 2023 on charges they participated in a sweeping scheme to overturn Trump’s narrow 2020 presidential election loss in Georgia.
As pretrial proceedings moved ahead, Willis admitted she engaged in a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, whom she tapped for the prominent role as her top deputy overseeing the historic racketeering case against the then-former president.
The couple went on vacations together and said they split bills mostly by exchanging cash, an explanation that the trial judge said sounded fishy.
Trump’s defense pounced on the affair as evidence Willis and Wade may have pumped up the case to benefit themselves financially or otherwise.
After a lurid trial-within-a-trial, Judge Scott McAfee issued a mixed ruling in March that allowed Willis to stay on the case while ordering her Wade to step down, which he did. But the appeals court said the appearance of a conflict still tainted Willis’ handling of the case.
It’s not yet clear how the decision could impact Trump’s co-defendants, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and onetime Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Four of the other defendants have already pleaded guilty to lesser charges after reaching deals with Willis’ team.
The Georgia ruling marks the latest dramatic legal victory for Trump as he prepares to return to the White House for a second term.
Special counsel Jack Smith has already dismissed the two federal cases against Trump that he was overseeing.
Manhattan Justice Juan Merchan is expected to decide soon whether and when to sentence Trump on his conviction on 34 felony counts in the Stormy Daniels hush money case. But punishment appears unlikely.